Seeing Eye Dog

[delimanHelmetfan]

I got this in a reply email when asking about my laminate package that had NOT arrived on the 7th.

In addition, you should have received your laminate(s) in the mail by now (if not today, then tomorrow!), because since the vinyl was delayed, Helmet wanted to make sure you got your laminates in time. I did get this information from them yesterday about the laminates:
"the vinyl will not be shipped separately, but their name will be on a list at the box office. laminates ARE being shipped separately, so that should arrive prior to the show (their name on the guestlist is also there as back up)."
I've already heard from a bunch of folks that they've gotten their laminates, so *please do* get back to me tomorrow if you haven't gotten yours yet.
I hope this helps. Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.
Best,
Elise


So now we're getting the vinyl at the box office at concerts??? Does anyone really know what's going on? I like the new album, but this kinda blows. Seems to happen a lot with bands...I've had some problems in the past with other bands and fan club stuff...

[Jot]

I guess what they mean is that the vinyl is not shipped separately from the CD orders, if both was ordered together. So I expect my complete package around Sept. 24th, and not the CDs on Sept 17th (that's what Amazon has listed as the CD release date), then the vinyl a week later.

[helmet]

Decent helmet release. Best 2.0 cd.
Best songs imo are
-welcome to algiers: Seems like I´ve heard this one before on aftertaste. Good riffs that break the song in the middle and cool ending.
-la water: a new slow groovy and melodic song that really makes it for me. One of the few new songs where I dig the vocals.
-she´s lost: one of my favorite helmet tracks ever. This is pure awesome. I like the build up to the sublime ending, signified by the long pause.
Apart from the beatles cover and morphing, which are alright, the rest of the songs seem mediocre standard helmet vers. 2.0 song. The vocals on these unfortunately kills some of the joy.
7/10

[eht13]

So as I said before, I also received my download e-mail last night, but no CD yet... maybe today.

I am really liking this album. I could rate the songs one by one, but I basically really like them all. The only ones that don't fit into the overall consistent feeling are Morphing and And Your Bird Can Sing... but that should be expected that they feel different (and I still like them anyway). All of these songs have such a sense of energy and freedom to them. There is really a lot going on in layers during many parts of most of them, and the guitar solos are his most urgent and energetic in years. The rhythm section sounds great too, and more natural than on Size Matters and Monochrome. Overall, I think you can tell that Page took his time with this, and that it was worth the wait.

In summary, I think it is not only better than Size Matters and Monochrome, but better than Aftertaste too. Aftertaste had great sound quality, but the "heart" just wasn't there in many of the songs; many of them started off great, but then quickly fell into an almost bland pattern until they had lasted long enough and could finish. That is not at all the case here. So being better than those three makes this the best Helmet album since Betty in 1994, IMO... no small feat.

Also meant to mention that there are a lot of great new riffs on here, many played in conjunction with those scorching solos. Also, the vocals sound really good to me. As I've said, they didn't bother me too much on SM and Monochrome, but they do sound better here.

The only things I wish could have been done more on this album, to make it even better, would be a few more instances of odd time signatures, and a few more instances of start-stop riffs/grooves.

[eht13]

Here you have new info about CD

"Elise Nordling, Sep 08 16:23 (PDT):

Hi Jarek,

The CDs ship on the release date, so you should expect to receive the CD in the mail in the next few days to a week, most likely.

I hope that helps,
Elise "

I guess what they mean is that the vinyl is not shipped separately from the CD orders, if both was ordered together. So I expect my complete package around Sept. 24th, and not the CDs on Sept 17th (that's what Amazon has listed as the CD release date), then the vinyl a week later.

This just keeps getting weirder and more annoying. Was it shipped on the release date like they told Jarek? That would be later than the "delivery by release date" that this site and TopSpin stated... but still better than the 17th like Jot says Amazon shows now... what the hell.

Here is what I received back from my e-mail to Audiolife, who handles shipments of physical goods (CDs and vinyl):

"Unfortunately we not received that artist’s products in our warehouse yet. We have been informed by their management company that we should be receiving the items any day now, and we will be shipping immediately after. I wish I could be of more help, but as of right now we’re at the mercy of the management company."

[lamb_of_gods]

I checked my order status for the deluxe version.
Everything was shipped on the 7th according to the website.
My laynard arrived on the 7th and the vinyl is delayed till the 22nd. Things just keep getting weirder.

[eht13]

Meanwhile, TopSpin violated credit card industry rules by charging our cards immediately after orders were placed instead of doing so upon shipment. These rules state that cards cannot be charged until merchandise is shipped from a warehouse, or electronic items are delivered via e-mail or website. So the MP3's could have been charged when we got the download e-mails on the 7th, but the CDs/vinyl should not have been charged yet, since it appears they still have not actually shipped. I know Audiolife does the shipping of physical goods, but I think they get their fee for that behind the scenes from TopSpin, who charged the cards for the full amount of digital/CD/vinyl, etc. at one time.

[RockMessiahBetty]

It's taken a few days, but Seeing Eye Dog has really grown on me. The individual songs are good, lots of great surprises, with some epic endings as great as anything Helmet has done before.

My complaint is the track listing for that album's "feel and flow." The end of the song Seeing Eye Dog is also the Intro to White City, clearly the track order was different at one time.

So what I did was change the track listing into a much more cohesive "feeling" album; I also added Revenge Destroys Everything for a few more moments of stop 'n' go guitars. Now, for me, the album has really come into its own.

Here's what I did:

1. Seeing Eye Dog, 2. White City, 3. Welcome to Algiers, 4. Miserable, 5. So Long, 6. In Person, 7. L. A. Water, 8. Revenge Destroys Everything, 9. She's Lost

That makes a solid Helmet album, but I consider this a "deluxe" or "special edition" so I edited the last 50 seconds of guitar noodling of She's Lost and made it a separate track I simply titled "Coda."

So here's the "special edition" or "bonus tracks" part of the album:

10. Morphing (I added a slightly longer deeper fade so that there's no need to have White City after this track) 11. L.A. Water [Battle Tapes remix], 12. And your Bird Can Sing [cover song], 13. Coda (the last 50 seconds or so of guitar noodling at the very end of She's Lost.

I highly recommend someone doing this. I'm more of an "album" type of listener and I considered this was necessary for the "flow". The first 9 tracks of my re-sequencing makes a far more solid album. Then there are the bonus tracks which I would consider optional: Morphing works quite well as a long intro into the L.A. Water remix, And Your Bird Can Sing feels like a typical bonus track, but far less intrusive here towards the end, Coda just makes a good coda (ending) to the whole experience.

Only a couple more minor things could have improved this album:
I wish there was one more faster tune with Page's growl voice; Revenge Destroys Everything works quite well, but another new track would have been preferred.
I'm still missing John Stanier's unique and unpredictable drum fills that gave the first 4 albums so much life.

At least give those 9 tracks a chance in the order I have presented, it may grow on you as it did me.

-RockMessiahBetty out.

[bornannoying]

Meanwhile, TopSpin violated credit card industry rules by charging our cards immediately after orders were placed instead of doing so upon shipment. These rules state that cards cannot be charged until merchandise is shipped from a warehouse, or electronic items are delivered via e-mail or website. So the MP3's could have been charged when we got the download e-mails on the 7th, but the CDs/vinyl should not have been charged yet, since it appears they still have not actually shipped. I know Audiolife does the shipping of physical goods, but I think they get their fee for that behind the scenes from TopSpin, who charged the cards for the full amount of digital/CD/vinyl, etc. at one time.

Have you raised this with TopSpin? If not, I think you should.

[bornannoying]

Not sure if this has anything to do with you lot not receiving cds etc, but I have noticed that the release date for the album is now the 20th September on certain websites.

Hm, if that's the case I don't understand why they don't update the website of all websites (yeah, helmetmusic.com), there it still says CD and vinyl comes out on Sept. 7th, although they already pushed back the vinyl release officially. And it's real text, not an image so it should be trivial to update.

As far as I'm aware, the release date hasn't changed. Evidently there have been problems with fulfilling orders within the advertised terms, i.e., before the 7 Sept release date, but, as far as I'm aware, the release date for Seeing Eye Dog, in conceptual terms if not in reality, remains the same. Besides, changing the date now would look like exactly what it would be: Moving the goalposts. So I wonder if those "certain websites" put their release date as the date they expect to actually have the goods to sell, thus avoiding the kind of shit storm TopSpin et al. currently has on their hands.

[worstcase]

Here's what I did:

1. Seeing Eye Dog, 2. White City, 3. Welcome to Algiers, 4. Miserable, 5. So Long, 6. In Person, 7. L. A. Water, 8. Revenge Destroys Everything, 9. She's Lost

This seems like a really good order. I've also been thinking about adding Revenge there since it's a really strong track and totally deserves to be on an album.

[defsteve]

Ha!

Trying to download my copy of Seeing Eye Dog (while awaiting my super deluxe+laminate version) :

Download Unavailable

Looks like the file you tried to download is currently unavailable. This could be a temporary issue, so try again in a little while. Contact Customer Support if this problem continues.

Sucks to be me!

[RockMessiahBetty]

worstcase, yeah dude. I'm on my third day with this track order and it comes off really strong. Revenge Destroys Everything sounds good when included on Seeing Eye Dog; for some reason I could never just add it to Monochrome and Seeing Eye Dog needed another guitar driven track. Throwing Punches was on the Underworld soundtrack long before Size Matters so it kind of echoes that thought.

I played around with speeding up White City 20%. Sounds awesome that way, the guitar riff really rolls 20% faster and is still very realistic, in fact I really like it that fast, the only downside is that the cymbal crashes don't work at that speed, they sound abbreviated and don't breathe; I can't mess with Page's work more than changing the track order. Plus messing with song speed opens ideas and cans of worms that I don't want to explore; I guess I'm not a DJ. I've never been a fan of beat matching or manipulation, it feels like a sin and I'm not religious.

I just listened to White City 20% faster while I was writing this and it really adds a punch, a little more reminiscent of older Helmet riffing, less laid back. Now the cymbals aren't bothering me as much. I'm becoming WAY too obsessed with tweaking this album. I gotta stop now or this behavior will grow.

Then again, only Helmet would make me care this much. That's a huge compliment towards Page and his art.

RockMessiahBetty out.

[eht13]

Meanwhile, TopSpin violated credit card industry rules by charging our cards immediately after orders were placed instead of doing so upon shipment. These rules state that cards cannot be charged until merchandise is shipped from a warehouse, or electronic items are delivered via e-mail or website. So the MP3's could have been charged when we got the download e-mails on the 7th, but the CDs/vinyl should not have been charged yet, since it appears they still have not actually shipped. I know Audiolife does the shipping of physical goods, but I think they get their fee for that behind the scenes from TopSpin, who charged the cards for the full amount of digital/CD/vinyl, etc. at one time.

Have you raised this with TopSpin? If not, I think you should.

No, I haven't... I considered doing so when I saw the charge on my card the day after I placed the order, but decided not to bother since it wasn't a big deal and I thought I'd have everything by the 7th. I assume this happened to everyone, right? Someone please speak up if you have only been charged partially so far. Anyway, the only e-mail I've sent is to Audiolife for a status on the CD shipment, which as I mentioned before received this response:

"Unfortunately we not received that artist’s products in our warehouse yet. We have been informed by their management company that we should be receiving the items any day now, and we will be shipping immediately after. I wish I could be of more help, but as of right now we’re at the mercy of the management company."

[frothalbumin]

I think messing around with the album, or "tweaking" it, isn't a sign of respect. It's the opposite. There was plenty of time, effort and thought put into the album by Helmet and the producer. They released what they thought was appropriate for us and them. And, in my opinion, the album is killer. Sounds amazing with the bass cranked up. Do whatever makes you happy I guess. I just think it sucks that you're bragging about it here. Are you gonna ask Helmet to play the songs 20% faster live?

Edit - I'm a little drunk and in bad mood. I'm sorry for being sassy.